Physician-Scientist Training Programs
"You can't harvest the fruit unless you grow the trees."
Overview — What is a PSTP?
Postgraduate programs that carry research training across residency, fellowship, and the transition to faculty.
Physician-Scientist Training Programs are postgraduate programs designed to recruit and retain physicians committed to careers combining research with patient care. They typically integrate residency training, subspecialty clinical fellowship, and mentored research training in order to support the transition from medical or dual-degree school to a first faculty position.
There is no single national definition or accrediting body for a PSTP, and the variation between programs is substantial. Some are formal tracks tied to a specialty board research pathway. Some are NIH-funded blocks of protected research time within an otherwise standard residency. Others are departmental communities of practice that supply mentorship, funding, and advocacy without altering the clinical training schedule. Many programs combine two or three of these elements.
NACST's membership has historically centered on MD-PhD and Medical Scientist Training Programs. The pipeline for the physician-scientist workforce is broader than that. It includes MD and DO trainees who develop research interests during medical school, residency, or fellowship, and it depends on the postgraduate programs that give those interests somewhere to go. This page is a reference for the directors and administrators who build and run those programs.
Program Models — Four Common Structures
Board research pathway
Clinical training is condensed and mentored research is built into the certification requirements themselves. The ABIM Research Pathway and the pediatric research pathways are the most established examples. Board approval is required, and the terms are set by the board rather than the institution.
Research in residency
A defined block of protected research time, commonly one to two years, inserted into a standard-length residency. The NIH R38 StARR mechanism is the principal funding vehicle for this model, and it operates across multiple specialties rather than only internal medicine.
Departmental program
A cohort and support structure layered onto existing clinical training. Provides mentorship, research and travel funds, grant-writing support, and a peer community. Trainees may or may not be on a board research pathway. Often the most flexible and least expensive model to start.
Linked residency and fellowship
Trainees match into residency with a subspecialty fellowship commitment already in place, which removes the fellowship application from the middle of training. Requires coordination between residency and fellowship program directors and a departmental commitment to funded research years.
Certification — Specialty Board Research Pathways
Only a small number of certifying boards have established a formal research pathway, which is why the table below is short. Internal medicine, pediatrics, and pathology are the most developed. Research pathways and research-track options exist or are under development in other specialties, including neurology, psychiatry, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, dermatology, radiation oncology, and anesthesiology, and terms vary widely between boards. Where no board pathway exists, research training is usually pursued through a departmental program or an NIH-funded research block instead. NACST welcomes corrections and additions from program leaders in any specialty.
| Pathway | Clinical training | Research training | Entry and approval |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABIM Research Pathway Internal medicine |
Two years of internal medicine residency in place of the standard three, plus the subspecialty clinical minimum. That minimum is 12 months for most subspecialties and 18 months for gastroenterology, hematology/oncology, pulmonary/critical care, and rheumatology/allergy and immunology. | A minimum of three years of mentored research at 80 percent commitment. The final research year may be completed in a faculty position provided the 80 percent mentored research commitment is maintained. | Prospective planning with the residency program director and research mentor is required. Training is documented through ABIM's FasTrack tracking system. Entry implies a commitment to completing the pathway. |
| ABP Integrated Research Pathway Pediatrics |
Three years in the general pediatrics residency, of which at least two years are clinical pediatrics, plus one year of an ACGME-accredited pediatric subspecialty fellowship including at least 24 weeks of clinical experience. | Up to one year of research training within the three residency years, continuing into the fellowship period. A supervisory and review committee must be established by the residency program together with the research mentors. | Entry at the R-1 level only, with no transfers in after R-1 or from another categorical program. Approval must be obtained from ABP during the sixth to ninth month of the R-1 year. ABP approves the individual petition rather than the program. |
| ABP Accelerated Research Pathway Pediatrics |
A minimum of two years of general pediatrics residency plus a minimum of one year of accredited pediatric subspecialty fellowship including at least 24 weeks of clinical experience. | Creates additional time for research during subspecialty fellowship without extending total training beyond six years. | Availability is at the discretion of the general pediatrics and subspecialty fellowship program directors. Continuation depends on the general pediatrics program director verifying competence at the end of two years of core training. Trainees entering by this route are not eligible for subspecialty fast-tracking. |
| ABPath Physician-Scientist Research Pathway Pathology |
Pathology maintains a research pathway alongside a specialty-specific PSTP listing coordinated by the Association of Pathology Chairs Research Committee, which also supplies the pathology entries in the AAMC's PSTP resource. Consult ABPath and AAPath directly for current requirements. | ||
Funding — NIH Mechanisms for Postgraduate Research Training
Stimulating Access to Research in Residency (StARR)
An institutional award supporting in-depth mentored research experiences for resident-investigators, with the goal of recruiting and retaining clinician-investigators and accelerating their progress toward research independence. For this mechanism, NIH defines residency as clinical training that occurs directly after medical school and before subspecialty training, so fellowship-level programs are not eligible to apply. Multiple NIH Institutes and Centers participate, each generally funding up to one award per institution, and institutions are encouraged to submit no more than one application per IC per receipt date. Programs may add or remove research preceptors during the award period with IC program staff approval.
A point that is frequently misunderstood: the R38 does not support trainees participating in an existing board-certified research pathway that already integrates research across residency and subspecialty training, such as the ABIM Research Pathway. Institutions running both need to keep the trainee populations distinct.
StARR Transition Scholar (StARRTS)
An individual career development award designed as the continuation of the R38, supporting former resident-investigators as they move into subspecialty fellowship or a first faculty position. Eligibility requires successful participation in an R38 program for at least 12 and up to 24 months. There is no limit on elapsed time between completing the R38 and applying, though timing should align with the research phase of fellowship or entry to faculty. The award may be used at a different institution than the R38, and research is generally expected to fall within the mission of the IC that funded the R38. Requirements differ by IC, so early contact with the relevant program official is advisable.
Mechanisms programs commonly layer alongside
Institutional T32 training grants at the fellowship level, individual mentored career development awards such as the K08 and K23, NIH loan repayment programs, and foundation and specialty society awards. Departmental bridge funding is a recurring feature of well-established programs and one of the least documented. Support structures vary enough between institutions that comparing them is one of the more useful things program directors can do with each other.
Shared Challenges — What Program Leaders Are Working Through
These come up repeatedly when PSTP directors and administrators compare notes, and they are the questions NACST intends to convene around.
Citizenship and visa eligibility. T32 and R38 support carries citizenship or permanent residency requirements, which constrains who can be recruited into funded slots and forces programs to build parallel funding for international trainees.
Fellowship match timing. Board research pathways generally require a fellowship commitment early in residency, sometimes by the end of the intern year, which compresses the decision and creates a contingency problem for trainees who do not secure a position.
Protecting research time in practice. An 80 percent research commitment on paper erodes under clinical service pressure, call coverage, and continuity clinic obligations. How programs defend that time is largely undocumented.
The K-award transition. The move from institutional support to an individual career development award, and then to independent funding, remains the point of highest attrition in the pipeline.
Outcomes tracking. Few programs can report longitudinal outcomes for their graduates in a form comparable to other institutions. Without shared definitions and shared infrastructure, the field cannot say with confidence which models work.
Specialty coverage. Established pathways cluster in internal medicine, pediatrics, and pathology. Trainees in surgical and procedural specialties, and in specialties without a board research pathway, have fewer structured options.
Resources — Directories and Primary Sources
Trainees looking for programs should start with the databases maintained by APSA and the AAMC. NACST does not duplicate those listings.
Are you a PSTP or research residency director?
Increasing interaction with research residency and fellowship directors is one of NACST's standing initiatives. We are building programming for postgraduate program leaders, including sessions at the annual meeting and a forum for program administrators. If you direct or administer a PSTP, a board research pathway, or an R38 program, we would like to hear from you, and we welcome corrections to anything on this page.
Contact NACST or email mdphdassociation@gmail.com.
Page last reviewed August 2026. Board certification requirements and NIH funding opportunity terms change; confirm current requirements with the certifying board or the relevant NIH Institute before relying on this summary.